1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a payment and metering system for a commodity or utility service. Specifically, the invention concerns an improvement in a card activated method and apparatus for the pre-payment and metering such commodity or service.
2. Prior Art
A metering and payment system for a commodity or a utility service generally comprises the following: (a) meters; (b) meter readers; (c) transportation; (d) billing procedures and personnel; (e) collection procedures and personnel; and (f) billing mechanisms including computers and mailing machines. Over the years, the non-commodity related costs, such as mailing costs, personnel costs, etc., have escalated relative to commodity related costs such as power generation equipment, energy sources, light sources, etc. As a result, utilities and regulators have tried to control these costs. However, the technical ability to control these costs is almost non-existent.
Rather than change the entire system and make the system cost effective, inventors have attacked discrete elements of the system. A plethora of patents cover various devices for automatic and semi-automatic meter reading. But while meter reading costs may be high, the techniques employed, telephone use and RF transmission, have higher costs.
Furthermore, computer software was developed to improve billing and collection procedures. However, billing and collection costs were soon outstripped by increased labor and postage costs.
One way to control and/or reduce some of these costs is to require a consumer to prepay for the consumption of service or commodity. Systems for the prepayment of a commodity or a utility service are well known. The pay telephone is one example, while the location of a coin box on a gas meter is another example. Additionally, if home heating is done by wood, coal, oil or bottled gas, such energy is paid for before use. If lighting is done by solar energy, kerosene, wind generators or gas generators, it is also paid for before use.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,629,874 concerns a prepayment metering system. Therein is disclosed a card-activated prepayment metering system. The system uses a card on which information may be stored and erased and from which stored information may be read. A number recorded on the card is read at a meter and stored in preparation for the next card insertion. At that time, a credit is given. To obtain a further credit at the meter, the card is taken to a terminal station at which the number recorded on the card is read and is subjected to an encryption process using the a key, as is well known. The resulting encrypted number is recorded on the card in place of the previous number. On the next insertion of the card at the meter, the encrypted number is read from the card and subjected to an encryption step using the same key. The result of the encryption is compared with the number stored in the meter. If the result of the encryption and the number stored in the register match, a credit is issued.
To be successful, a pre-paid commodity or utility system must combine a number of integrated sub-systems. Since the vehicles that contain a pre-paid utility or commodity represent a valuable commodity, it is essential that each sub-system contain functional security measures. Such functional security measures are necessary to take into account the inherent unreliability factor of dealing with a public which is usually forced to purchase a service from a monopoly. Moreover, it is important for the system as a whole to have the ability to provide an audit trail that provides a final accounting for the entire system, both for the utility and utility regulators.
The meter reading systems to date ignore the inherent unreliability factor necessary in dealing with a public that usually is forced to deal with a monopoly. None of the pre-paid systems provide the all-important audit trail necessary in any utility system and to utility regulators.